Antarctica InSync Science Plan

Antarctica InSync is a global effort to synchronise research across Antarctica and the Southern Ocean, connecting ice, ocean, land, climate, and life to protect this vital region. This roadmap paper introduces the scientific and technological motivation and action plan to build an international programme for a coordinated field season in Antarctica and its surrounding seas. It lays out the international collaboration that is required to realise an ambitious action plan and the opportunities for the science community to address important scientific themes that identify current knowledge gaps. In the spirit of the Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meeting (ATCM), the planned scientific action mandates free data exchange, facilitates international collaboration, and derives expert scientific advice together with the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR). Aligned with challenges of the United Nation Ocean and Cryosphere Decades, we plan a shared global effort to better understand the role of Antarctica and its surrounding ocean for our global futures, building on decades of achievements in polar and ocean science. As a milestone leading up to the next International Polar Year in 2032/33 (IPY5), the ambition is to achieve a new level of cooperation, with opportunities for the next generation of polar scientists around the world by enhancing practices in sharing of ideas, infrastructure and information.